


the way the world ends

by xSparklingRavenx



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Arguing, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 09:05:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8885029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xSparklingRavenx/pseuds/xSparklingRavenx
Summary: Gladiolus just wants to find room to breathe.Set just after the end of Chapter 13. Spoilers abound.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I finished the game like two weeks ago and it's still making me cry. I don't usually do angst because I find it difficult to balance, but I made an exception here. It still turned out to be pure sap like most things I write :D Hope you guys enjoy!
> 
> Proofread myself, but I occasionally miss mistakes (and then get mortified when I find them later) so I'm praying I found them all!

The world hadn't ended the way Gladiolus thought it would. The Starscourge came quietly, with the setting of the sun one final time, with the last stutter of the dying Regalia, with Noctis gone while Ardyn walked off wounds that would have killed a normal man. It ended with the three of them fighting daemons, trying to escape Gralea with nothing but the items in their pockets and the weapons Noctis had granted them before he’d been dragged into the light.

Somehow they made it out alive, made it back to Biggs and Wedge on the wrecked train. Glass was still scattered across the corridors, digs in the walls where gremlins had tried to claw at them. Telling Ignis and Prompto to stay in the cabin, Gladiolus staggered his way through the train to where the drivers awaited at the front, battle worn themselves. “Get us out of here,” Gladiolus said, choking on the darkness, on his own breath as he tried to catch it. It kept evading him.

He had to give Biggs and Wedge credit for surviving without them. God knew they’d barely made it out by themselves. He went back to the cabins, wading through the glass, and threw open the door that other two had obviously shut behind them with slightly too much force.

Both Prompto and Ignis flinched as it slammed into the wall beside him. The atmosphere was denser than fog, thicker than water. Gladiolus could barely breathe. There was silence, only punctuated by the half-breaths Prompto was taking in a less than subtle attempt to stop himself crying.

It was Ignis who broke the silence. “What the bloody hell happened?” he demanded, his hand clenched tight enough on the cane that it looked as if he were about to snap it in two. His words were sharp, to the point. He wasn’t beating around the bush.

Prompto started fiddling with the bands around his wrist. Gladiolus shut the door behind him gently this time, leaning against it. “I don’t know.” he said. “Do I _look_ like I know?”

“Funnily enough, I can’t tell.” Ignis said. Gladiolus cringed inwardly at his own awful choice of words. “Come on, out with it. Tell me what happened!”

“I can’t.” Gladiolus said, his voice rising. “I have no idea what the hell happened. Noct went in there, and I guess that crystal snatched him right up for some god forsaken reason. I don’t know what else you want me to tell you.”

Ignis’s expression changed, turning sour and fury-laden even with his glasses obscuring his eyes. Gladiolus felt his short fuse growing ever shorter. “And Ardyn?”

“I don’t _know_ Ignis! He got up, okay? Prompto shot the bastard, I cut his throat wide open, and he got _up._ ” Gladiolus ran a hand backwards through his hair, gripping the strands. “He didn’t die, that’s all I know!”

“That isn’t enough!”

“Stop it!” Prompto cried, his voice breaking on the words. Ignis immediately closed his mouth, turning his head away from the both of them. “I thought…I thought we were done with all this arguing, all this tension.”

“We were.” Gladiolus said. He felt like he was about to break. All of them were suffering, heightened emotions leading to fuses being blown leading to anger being vented. It was all wrong, there was supposed to be a fourth voice joining the fray, trying to cut Gladiolus down to size. “We were done with all that crap, but I don’t know if you’ve noticed that we’ve lost our goddamn King!”

Prompto looked wounded, his eyes flicking downwards as he continued to pick at his wristbands. “I know that.” he said, so quietly that it was almost lost to the sounds of the moving train. “I’m not stupid, I know Noct’s vanished and I know everything’s gone to hell. But fighting…fighting isn’t going to help us.” 

His arms were still bruised, the cut near his eye still harsh red. Gladiolus knew he’d picked the wrong target. He slid down the door until he was sat on the floor, one hand still in his hair, the other resting over his bent knee.

It was quiet for a long while. Gladiolus focused on the rhythmic chug of the train, so unlike the chaotic beating of his own heart. After Altissia, he had felt a mess. Now he just felt shattered, like there was no way to fix him.

Eventually, Ignis sighed. When he spoke, he sounded ashamed. “Prompto is right. Just then, that was unfair of me. I apologise, Gladio. I shouldn’t have lost my temper like that.”

Gladiolus wanted to tell him it was fine, that he understood, that he knew they were all stressed and they were all just fault lines waiting to slip, but he couldn’t find the words. When he didn’t answer, Prompto asked, “What do we do now?”

There was only one thing Gladiolus wanted to do, and that was call his sister. He had no chance. There was no reception out here in the middle of this screwed up capital and there wouldn’t be for a while.

Ignis answered for him. “There’s nothing we can do about Noct. If the crystal wanted him, then it’s for a reason. Perhaps it would be wise to gather information on what is going on right now, instead of focusing on what we can’t do.”

“We know what’s happened. The night’s here to stay and the daemons are going to be out there, killing the innocents.” Gladiolus said, moving his hand to cover his eyes. “We’ve really done it now, haven’t we? What the hell…this wasn’t supposed to be like this at all.”

“It was supposed to be fun.” Prompto said, bringing his knees to his chest as he sat on the bed. “Jump in the Regalia, drive it down to Galdin Quay, hop on a boat, get hitched. I can’t…this doesn’t feel real.”

It hadn’t felt real since Altissia. Ever since Leviathan washed away the city and took Lunafreya’s body with it, Gladiolus felt like he’d been living in some sort of nightmare. Ignis losing his eyesight, Prompto being knocked off the train, Noctis being taken by the crystal – it had been one thing after another, with no sign of letting up, and now the Starscourge was here, as if things weren’t already as bad as they could be.

“Never rains, but it pours.” Gladiolus said to himself.

“Yet it is always darkest before the dawn.” Ignis countered. “Presumably that still holds some weight, even if dawn is a long way off.”

“I just want some room to breathe, Ig.” Gladiolus said, shuddering as the cold of the dead Glacian’s domain began to seep into the room. “That so much to ask for? Since Insomnia fell, we’ve been to hell and back.”

“You’ve got room in here,” Ignis said, “so breathe.”

Gladiolus did, leaning forward and putting his head in his hands. He rubbed his fingers against the back of his head, through his hair, trying to soothe the rest of his own anger, to take away the exhaustion he felt deeper than his bones, trying to quell the deep rooted fear of failure inside him. He’d already failed, his King was lost. There was no use in dwelling on it now.

When he felt ready, he looked up to Prompto. “Sorry for snapping at you there. Wasn’t right of me.”

Apologies weren’t his strong suit. Prompto knew that though, and nodded. “It’s alright. You don’t need to apologise, I know you didn’t mean it.”

“Thanks.” Even if it was a bad apology, it had made him feel lighter. Being pessimistic was bad for all of their health. He forced himself to put on a different front. “I’m talking shit. Iggy’s right. We’ll figure this out. And Noct’ll figure out whatever on his end too. He’ll come back, we’ll find Ardyn, and we’ll kick his ass for what he’s done.”

He wasn’t sure if he believed it, but it felt better saying it out loud. “Everything always rights itself eventually.” Ignis said. “We’ll just need to put the effort in.”

Prompto nodded. He was still pinging those wristbands of his, furiously pulling at them as if he was trying to tear them off. It gave him something to think about, to turn the conversation away from how dark it felt. “Hey, Prompto.”

“Yeah?”

Gladiolus paused a moment, but then decided to go ahead with it. “Tell me something then. Under those, that’s your code print you said?”

Looking alarmed, Prompto moved his hand away from the bands instantly. Frowning, Ignis said, “Gladio?”

“I’m not gonna force him.” Gladiolus said. “Was just wondering if you’d show us, is all.”

“Uh,” Prompto looked between the bands and Gladiolus. He hesitated long enough for Gladiolus to open his mouth to tell him it was fine, but before he could say anything Prompto slid the bands up his arm.

He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting. The code print was exactly that, a series of bars that dominated the outside of his wrist, sectioned off with little diamonds on either side. It was mostly jarring, to know that he’d known Prompto for all these years and yet never realised he was hiding something so big.

Fidgeting uncomfortably, Prompto said, “So…is that it? We done?”

Gladiolus looked down at his own wrist. His tattoos ended before they reached there. “You know…after this, there probably ain’t gonna be much of a Niflheim empire. I doubt most people would know what that is anyway, so if you were okay with it, I don’t think you’d have to hide it.”

Prompto covered it back up with his bands. “You think?”

Ignis hummed his agreement. “Of course, we wouldn’t make you do anything you wouldn’t want to do. If you want to go on as you have, that is perfectly fine.”

“Yeah,” Gladiolus said, shrugging. “Anyway, when all this is done, and night turns back into day as it should, maybe we could head down to a parlour and I’ll get one done. If it’s alright with you.”

Prompto stared at him. “What?”

“Course, I won’t if you don’t think it’s a good idea.” Gladiolus said, trying to be careful with how he chose his words. The last thing he wanted to do was offend him. “Guess I’m trying to be mushy.”

Ignis chuckled. “I thought you once said that wasn’t your style, Gladio.”

Prompto was still looking at him, his mouth now parted slightly in surprise. “Wait, wait, wait. You’d…you’d do something like that? For _me?_ ”

“Yeah, sure, if you didn’t mind.” Gladiolus said.

Prompto started to laugh—until it turned into quiet tears. “Noct’s face if he found out we got matching tattoos.” he said, sniffing hard. “He’d throw a fit.”

Gladiolus snorted at the thought. “Nothing’s stopping him getting one when he gets back.”

“Everything is stopping him getting one.” Ignis said stiffly. “He is the King. It would be unbecoming.”

“You’re just feeling left out, Ig.” Gladiolus said, getting up to sit on the bed beside him. It felt a little bit like old times. Could have been, except one face was missing. “Get one too.”

“Absolutely not. No offence to you, Prompto, but I’d rather keep my skin ink free.”

Prompto rubbed his eyes, a tearful grin on his lips. “None taken. Sorry for getting all soppy and this, I was just kinda, taken aback is all. And I’m still all weird inside from everything’s that happened. I don’t know how to feel. Not about the tattoo thing, just in general.”

“No apologies, Prompto, it’s a valid way to react to these sort of circumstances.” Ignis said, leaning on his cane. “First things first then, we need to return to Lucis. If Aranea’s still in Tenebrae, we can meet with her on the way back through and ask for assistance. We’re lucky in that we can fight. A great deal of the world won’t be as fortunate as us.”

Gladiolus thought of Iris back in Cape Caem. She could hold her own, and she also had Monica and Cor with her. There was nothing to worry about, but he still worried anyway. “Basically a return trip then.”

“Wonder if Cid and Cindy are holding up okay…” Prompto said. “We need to be quick. Daemons don’t go where there’s light, right? So if we can find places which are bright…”

Ignis nodded. “We’ll hold our own when we get there. I won’t hold you back, I swear it.” 

Gladiolus, who had only a few days ago wanted Ignis to stay behind and stay safe, could now not have wanted anyone else by his side. “We know you won’t.” he said. “Okay, consider me convinced. We’re gonna make it, I know it.”

“Gonna make Noct proud too.” Prompto said. “I want him to be happy when he sees us again, to be able to do what he needs to because we put the pieces in place.”

“Excellent then.” Ignis said, looking pleased. “Everything is much easier when a plan is in place.”

They’d make it come together. Finally feeling as if he could breathe freely again, Gladiolus thought of dawn coming, brilliant and true. “Yeah. Let’s do this.”

**Author's Note:**

> I only really set out to write the Prompto and Gladio bit, but it somehow grew quite a bit bigger than that.
> 
> Oh yeah, if you've ever read anything by me before, you'll probably notice a marked change in style. Over the past few months I've been attempting to refine my style and work, and this fic marks my first public departure from present tense. I'll probably be sticking with that from here on out. Here's hoping it worked!


End file.
